Female pekin duck coughing, thinking its gapeworm?

[Ica94]

My 7 month old pekin duck, juliet, has been coughing for a while now. I didnt think it was a problem when it first started two months ago. It came and went and she is acting normal. She eats, swims, poops, runs around with her mate. However her cough got persistent today. I gave her electrrolytes and vitamins in her water to help but with much research I believe she has a gapeworm. I looked up ivermectin but am not sure how to treat her? On TSC website i found a paste and was wondering if i could give her that? Like a small dosage? Any advice please, and going to the vet is not an option now, money is tight

 

[Ica94]

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/durvetreg;-ivermectin-paste-187%-608-g

Here is the paste btw

 

[Amykins]

I'd get the funds to take her to a vet. Two months is a long time to have a problem go untreated, and poor Juliet is the one suffering for it. Ivermectin is a standard dewormer, but if you don't know the dosage it can seriously hurt the animal. And most importantly, you don't really know for sure if it's gapeworm or not, so if money really is that tight you'd be wasting even more of it on a drug that at best may be totally ineffective and at worst will injure your bird.

For the record, this is what a duck with the gapes looks like:

As you can see, it's very different from a persistent cough. Please, I'm begging you, if there's a way to get her to the vet please do so. I'd rather give up my phone or even my internet connection for a month if it meant using the money to save my beloved pets.

 

[Going Quackers]

I am not going to play the video posted but does it sound like that? i'd also do a search for gapeworm...

honestly i swore a drake of mine had it... i used my horses ivermection paste.. it worked and he's more than fine. I thought i had written down the dosage but i didn't ... he's a Muscovy drake so big boy, i do know some say to try and take a Q-tip and see if you can get anything from down their throat? basically seeing the worms... You do have to be careful before anybody jumps on me with that anytime you use a product for animals it's not intended for!!

Around here no vet would help with a duck so your stuck as a birdkeeper to solve these things yourself.. i will see what my STorey's guide says... if i can get to load... ebook...

Cannot get my Kobo to work, definitely do a search within the forum, tons of threads on it... Hope you can sort ducky's issues.

 

[Ica94]

Apple cider vinegar is doing wonders for my little girl :] her coughing has ceased and only once in a while her cough would appear. Im going to continue giving acv in her water and hopefully see more improvement

 

[Miss Lydia]

Apple cider vinegar is doing wonders for my little girl :] her coughing has ceased and only once in a while her cough would appear. Im going to continue giving acv in her water and hopefully see more improvement

That is great news.. I'd start cutting back to maybe 2-3X a week after her coughing stops completely 1Tab to 1 gallon of water.